11/05/2026
SPLM Official Appeals to Armed Groups to Return Home for Elections.
Cde .Simon Kun Puoch has called on armed opposition groups and South Sudanese living abroad to return home and take part in elections, saying President Salva Kiir Mayardit does not believe in killing people.
Mr Puoch made the remarks on Saturday during a gathering of Lakes State SPLM cadres in Juba to celebrate the appointment of Akol Paul Kordit as the party’s Secretary General.
“I appeal to those holding arms in Europe, America and Africa to come back home and participate in elections. Nobody will kill you here because we are brothers,” he said.
The SPLM 3rd deputy chairman defended President Kiir, describing him as a leader who values human life and refuses to approve death sentences.
Mr Puoch said that in 2012 he presented the President with a list of 28 prisoners sentenced to death by the courts, but President Kiir refused to authorise the executions and instead reduced the sentences to life imprisonment.
“He told me, ‘Simon, I cannot authorise the death of somebody,’” Mr Puoch said.
At the same time, he criticised corruption in the country, saying some people accused of stealing public money were escaping punishment.
He urged leaders to manage the country’s resources properly and focus on improving the lives of people suffering in states, counties and payams across South Sudan.
